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Outgoing CEO Jeff Immelt says in 2013, he and the board targeted timeline for CEO transition for summer of 2017. Says GE board led process, and decision was made last Friday by a unanimous board vote. Says GE today has "vastly simplified portfolio." Says incoming CEO Flannery understands "risk-reward equation." Says "no change" to 2017 framework. Comments taken from GE's conference call discussing the appointment of John Flannery as chairman and CEO. GE is up 3.4% to $28.89 in late morning trading.

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GEGeneral Electric

$28.99

1.045 (3.74%)

05/12/17

05/12/17DOWNGRADE

On The Fly: Top five analyst downgrades

Catch up on today's top five analyst downgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. General Electric (GE) downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank with analyst John Inch saying the stock is overvalued given "weak earnings quality" and the "wide gap between non-cash and cash earnings." 2. Electronic Arts (EA) was downgraded to Neutral from Long-Term Buy at Hilliard Lyons and to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank. 3. Uni-Pixel (UNXL) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Roth Capital with analyst Brian Alger saying while he sees abundant industry demand and interest for the company's products, he sees Uni-Pixel's future as somewhat binary and dependent upon strategic partnerships being executed relatively quickly. Alger also lowered his price target on the shares to 45c from $2. 4. Akari Therapeutics (AKTX) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair with analyst Tim Lugo citing the company's announcement that it placed its Chief Executive Officer on administrative leave as it reviews any involvement with the Edison Report. 5. Mazor Robotics (MZOR) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities with analyst David Turkaly citing valuation. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

05/25/17

DBAB

05/25/17NO CHANGETarget $24DBABSell

GE officially walked away from 2018 EPS target, says Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank analyst John Inch says General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt at a conference yesterday officially walked away from the company's $2.00-plus earnings per share framework for 2018 citing tougher markets. While investors had expected GE to abandon the $2.00-plus target, the company kept $2.00 per share at the high end of its 2018 framework, Inch tells investors in a research note. He believes $2.00 to be unrealistic, even as just a high point in the range. The analyst sees cash flow pressures continuing in 2018 and keeps a Sell rating on GE with a $24 price target.

05/31/17

DBAB

05/31/17NO CHANGETarget $24DBABSell

General Electric setting stage for dividend cut, says Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank analyst John Inch believes the stage is being set for General Electric to cut its common dividend. The analyst has a Sell rating on the shares with a $24 price target. Last Wednesday at a conference, GE provided a cash flow walk for the next two years that suggests it is likely to generate insufficient free cash flow to cover its common dividend this year, and barely enough next year, Inch tells investors in a research note. He believes a "reasonable dividend payout" on a future earnings reset could result in a GE dividend cut to 65c-75c. A dividend reduction could be part of an earnings "reset" lower and possibly in conjunction with eventual future leadership change, Inch writes.

Credit Suisse analyst Julian Mitchell thinks the pendulum of investor sentiment regarding General Electric has swung too far in the negative direction, creating an attractive entry point into the stock. GE's organic growth seems underappreciated, argues Mitchell, who notes that its organic sales growth has topped most Electrical Equipment and Multi-Industry peers in recent years and into 2017. Meanwhile, GE's segments have shown "fairly healthy" operating leverage, added Mitchell, who has an Outperform rating and $34 price target on GE shares.

Paylocity announced that Michael Haske has been promoted to the position of president & COO. In this expanded role, Haske will be responsible for aligning go-to-market sales and marketing activities with operational teams who are focused on delivering an industry leading implementation and service experience to nearly 15,000 clients. Haske joined Paylocity following a successful career in the payroll and HR industry. At Paychex (PAYX), he served as director of marketing and business development as well as regional manager of major market services, where he managed sales for the western half of the United States. Prior to Paychex, Haske held multiple roles with Automatic Data Processing (ADP).

Amtech Systems announced that it intends to offer shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering. The offering is subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the offering. The company plans to use the net proceeds of the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include working capital, capital expenditures and potential acquisitions. Roth Capital Partners is acting as the sole manager for the offering.

Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $104,860,386 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Griffin Missiles. This contract provides for delivery of all variants of Griffin standoff precision guided munitions and corresponding production, test and engineering support. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2018. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2016 and 2017 procurement funds in the amount of $24,071,072 are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.

UP AFTER EARNINGS: Sportsman's Warehouse (SPWH), up 15%... Ross Stores (ROST), up 10.9%... Globant (GLOB), up 8.9%... Gap (GPS), up 5.8%... Applied Materials (AMAT), up 3.7%. ALSO HIGHER: Fluidigm (FLDM), up 4.4% after it licensed a CFTR next-generation sequencing assay. LOWER: Senseonics (SENS), down 5.7% after it announced an offering of common stock.

Lockheed Martin, Fort Worth, Texas, is the third company awarded a previously announced $499M indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity shared ceiling contract for six companies for the Aerospace Systems Air Platform Technology Research program. These contracts provide research for affordable, revolutionary capabilities for the warfighter. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed by 2025. This award is the result of competitive acquisition and six offers were received. Fiscal 2017 research and development funds in the amount of $100,000 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting office

According to various media outlets, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, said that "The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful."

Chembio Diagnostics announced that Richard J. Larkin, Executive Vice President and CFO, has informed the company of his intention to retire by December 31, 2017. An external search for a new company CFO will commence immediately. To ensure an orderly transition, Larkin is expected to continue to serve as the company's CFO and remain an officer of the company until the earlier of December 31, 2017 or until a successor is found.

In a regulatory filing, General Motors executive VP Stefan Jacoby disclosed the sale of 20,000 common shares of the company at $35.60 per share. The transaction brings Jacoby's total direct common stock ownership to 60,379 shares.

Autobytel announced that beginning on August 10 through and including August 16, it has purchased a total of 145,821 shares of its common stock under its previously announced stock repurchase program. The company paid an average of approximately $8.20 per share for a total of approximately $1.2M. The shares repurchased are being retired and returned to their status of authorized and unissued shares. These recently repurchased shares, combined with shares previously repurchased under the stock repurchase program, have exhausted the repurchase authorization under the stock repurchase program.

FalconStor announced the appointment of Todd Brooks as CEO and Patrick McClain as CFO, both effective immediately. In concert with these appointments, Todd Oseth, formerly FalconStor president and CEO, will move into a strategic industry advisor role to support the company's reorganization efforts, and Dan Murale, formerly FalconStor CFO, resigned to pursue other opportunities. Brooks is an experienced chief executive with proven success in re-energizing growth and profitability for mature enterprise software companies across the globe. Brooks is an operating partner with Razorhorse Capital, leading the firm's value creation practice for software portfolio companies. Previously, he was COO for Aurea Software, and CEO for Update Software, a publicly traded company in Europe. McClain has served as a key financial executive leader within numerous technology companies. Prior to joining FalconStor, he was CFO for Aurea Software, CFO for Rules Based Medicine, and a fractional CFO for over 20 software and technology clients. McClain began his career with Price Waterhouse as an audit manager.